It has been 11 days since I had surgery to remove my gall bladder. The incision on my stomach/ chest is about 7 inches long. The way the doctor wanted it to heal required that it didn't have any stitches in it. So it looks horrible. But the truth is I haven't looked at it. I glanced really quickly when the bandages were changed, and decided not to look at it in the hospital. Then I made it back to the Covenant Hotel and tried to look at it. I saw the very top of it, and chickened out. So here it is 11 days later, and I finally decide to look at it. It was dang grizzly. It was bad. Well, at least I didn't throw up at the sight of it/me.
Earlier today I saw Dr. MacAllistar. He is the surgeon who removed my Mother's and Sister's gall bladders. He was looking to make sure I was healing correctly. He decided to speed up my healing by dripping silver nitrate (silver iodine) into the incision. After he had done that I asked him, "Um Doctor, is this supposed to burn like this? I mean, it's really starting to burn. Um, ouch, ouch, ouch, aah!!!!!" That's when Dad said, "Yes."
So I have had some pain today. It kind of felt like the Doctor took a soldering iron and soldered me like a piece of metal. It still hurts quite a bit, even though I have had two pain pills today. But this will help me heal faster in the long run. I just hope the scar that is left is not too bad.
I have to be honest. It is tough to face my scar. It completely gives me the heebie-jeebies. It is not a good thing. It is not a sexy thing. It's just .... bad. I still can't stand to look at it, even though I have to. Both Doctor's recommended that I don't bandage it up. They want it exposed to air so it will harden up faster. It's not good for it to be moist. So I have to roll up an old T-shirt, and lay it against the wound. It sits under my regular T-shirt that I wear normally. That way, if there is any drainage, it bleeds into the old shirt. And doing it this way helps it dry out and thus, heal faster.
So far I am concentrating on getting the outer skin healed up. After that, I need for the inner lining to heal so I don't have a hernia. And I have to be really careful about that because I have to be able to lift and move heavy things for work. In fact, I will have to pass the D.O.T. physical test all over again. So I really feel like I will be off work until May. There's nothing I can do about it, so all I can do is be accepting about the situation. Even if I don't like it.
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